Day two of the Mark Howard murder trial produced video of the crime scene, evidence stained with fecal matter, and a stream of testimony from investigators who worked the case.
Howard, 55, allegedly strangled Jeanette Scholten to death in a motel room in March 2016 during what was allegedly a drug deal. According to security video and texts procured later, Howard was the last person to contact the victim, and the last person to enter Ms. Scholten’s room before the murder. He was later charged with first-degree murder.
Investigator Taylor Walker was the first police officer to get on the scene. He described the small motel room as dirty and cluttered, and then told the court about the condition of the victim’s deceased body.
“I saw Jeanette on the bed on her back. She was wearing a gray T-shirt, and there was a dark stain on the pillow,” said the investigator, “There was fecal matter on her thigh and some clothing.”
Around the room were cords and items bound together to be like ropes, including a towel somewhat tied to her foot and a nearby chair. He said whenever he entered a crime scene such as that he always looked for signs of a fight, such as bruises or cuts on a victim’s body.
“At the time, we found (no injuries). It seemed like there was a struggle in the room, but it was odd there were no injuries on the body,” said investigator Taylor. He then held the scene as a medical examiner attempted to figure out the cause of death. Once the cause of death was discovered, the scene was turned into a crime scene.
“It’s the first time I’ve done it, and I’ve never done it again since,” said the investigator on the oddity of the situation.
Investigator Greg Martis showed pictures and video of the crime scene right after he arrived. Prosecutor Crystle Carrion brought out physical evidence from the scene, including cords found around the motel.
“I don’t usually go (to places) where people are tying various bits of cordage for no reason,” said the investigator. “There were items tied together to form a long, continuous string. Initially, we weren’t sure of the cause of death, so we collected some evidence and then we waited for the medical examiner.”
Once investigator Martis’ investigation got further along, he also collected evidence from Ms. Scholten’s body. He also collected DNA samples from Howard and her ex-boyfriend.
After investigator Martis, a series of crime scene investigators took the witness stand and detailed how they collected the evidence. A couple of them processed the phones found inside the motel and Howard’s bags. Ed Merritt was unable to analyze the older of the two phones, but he was able to do an advanced logical extraction of the LG device. In all, the extraction report from the phone ended up being 2,824 pages.
Mark Hamilton, introduced as an expert in video, audio, cell phones, and surveillance records, detailed his work with the phones. He said he was unable to hook up their machine to the older phone. So in order to record the files off the older phone, police stuck a camera in front of the phone and had someone scroll through the phone.
The more modern LG should have been compatible with the machine, but for some reason, some wires connecting the battery to the phone were damaged. After repairing it and restoring power to the phone, Mr. Hamilton was able to access the phone. He was able to look at texts and incoming calls.
“There was a quite a bit of activity on the 21st,” said Mr. Hamilton, “the last inbound call was from Mark Howard, referred to as Mark.”
Police also watched surveillance video from the Chatt Inn taken from the night of the alleged murder. The video showed Howard entering the room around 7:00 in the evening on March 21, and leaving around 6:00 the next morning.
The defense attorney questioned the nature of the video watched. It was a “highlight video” of sorts, where only relevant camera angles from the time when Howard entered and exited were used. Hamilton countered by saying there were 72 hours of footage to go through, despite the footage being pared down due to the cameras being on motion record.
He told the court he did not watch all 72 hours of footage. Instead, he used texts from the phone to figure out when Howard arrived, and then skipped to when the sensor was activated again once Howard left. He said no person was seen entering the room until Ms. Scholten’s family entered a few days later. Mr. Hamilton told the court that, while he did not review all 72 hours, detectives at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office did.
In prior testimony from Ms. Scholten’s family members, Jeanette was characterized as a woman who had dealt with some tough times. Former neighbors of Ms. Scholten and Howard described Howard as an odd person. While Ms. Scholten had struggled with drug and alcohol problems, as well as depression, her family said she was beginning to recover after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend.
Defense attorney Zachary Newman posited the idea that the victim was “into” sexual strangulation and bondage. The attorney questioned her ex-boyfriend on their sexual exploits, and it was revealed she did enjoy being “choked” during sex.
Attorney Newman also told the jury the prosecution had the burden of proof. He told the jury “the burden is on them to prove each accusation, and everything they just said. Otherwise (you will need to find Howard) not guilty.”
The trial will resume Thursday morning.